Note (return) — Chapter XIII

The atoms are not all of one form, but of different forms suited to the production of different substances by combination; some are square, some triangular, some smooth and spherical, some are hooked with points. They are also diversified in magnitude and density. The number of original forms is "incalculably varied," but not infinite. "Every variety of forms contains an infinitude of atoms, but there is not, for that reason, an infinitude of forms; it is only the number of them which is beyond computation." 795 To assert that atoms are of every kind of form, magnitude, and density, would be "to contradict the phenomena; "for experience teaches us that objects have a finite magnitude, and form necessarily supposes limitation.